By Nazaiah Steele
Contributor
Lucas Baggott is a junior from Mobile, Alabama, and he was recruited from Baker High School to Trevecca for track and field before NIL was prevalent on campus.
Before Trevecca, Baggott was a “runner of the week” in Mobile County, and he was a four-sport athlete at Mobile High School where he led his cross country and track teams to multiple championships.
When he began his freshman season in the 2020-21 season, he wasn’t a NIL athlete. As he has continued to play the sport he loves, he developed a good following, which helped lead him to a NIL in the summer of his junior year.
“The NIL deal I have right now is with Liquid IV. I came to get them through a friend of mine that I competed with at Ashton University. I get free products, and I have been compensated with the free product for three social media posts a month on my Instagram,” said Baggott.
While it is extra work for athletes to keep up with promotions, it is also a way to learn new skills.
“It almost gives you a little bit of sense of achievement and competence, not that getting a NIL means you’ve made it, but you know that’s a little bit more of a reinforcement that you’re good enough to be in any competition anytime. So, there’s not really any pressure, especially since the NIL doesn’t include any performance-based incentives. It doesn’t really add much to the pressure that we actually put on ourselves,” said Baggott.
When athletes are trying to receive a NIL, there are different ways to market and get their name out to the brands and sponsors. Social media has been the most used way to have the best chance to receive NIL deals.
“Tell your story about how you got to where you are. Show your training blogs or methods that you use to get yourself faster and better. Just do those things and be authentic with it, and the followers will come,” said Baggott.
Baggott had to work for his NIL, so he knows what it takes to be an athlete that works for a NIL later in his college career.
“I never really thought of NIL or doing much with it because I’m at a Division ll college, and I’m a track and field athlete. But over the last summer, I realized I had some pretty good accomplishments, I’m pretty good at what I do, and I have a pretty good following. I felt like it would be kind of poor of me not to try to take advantage of it,” said Baggott.